Coconut Carrot Cookies

Something wonderful but dangerous happened last week: My Girls Scouts cookies were delivered. This means that for the past five days or so, I’ve been stuffing my face with Thin Mints and Samoas galore—to the point where I decided I need to take a break from my boxed delights and add a new kind of cookie to the mix.

I decided to make these coconut carrot cookies, and I’m really glad I did. The cookies have a moist, almost cake-like consistency, and since they’re not overly sweet, you can easily get away with eating them for breakfast. (Try doing that with Girls Scouts cookies—somehow it’s just harder to get away with.)

Recipe from Needful Things

Ingredients:
2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1.5 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup raisins (dark or golden)
1/2 cup chopped pecans, preferably toasted (I left these out to keep the cookies nut-free and didn’t miss them)

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line 3-4 baking sheets with parchment.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.
3. Beat the butter on medium speed until it gets smooth and creamy. Add the sugars and beat on medium for 2 minutes; then add the egg and beat for another minute.
4. Reduce your mixer speed to low and beat in the vanilla.
5. Continuing on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 2-3 batches. Beat only till they just disappear into the mix.
6. Mix in the carrots, coconut, raisins, and pecans.
7. Spoon the dough onto baking sheets in heaped tablespoonfuls, leaving an inch of space between them. (I found that these didn’t spread very much.)
8. Bake for 16-18 minutes until the cookies are light brown and just firm on top.
9. Let cookies cool on a wire rack.

Mar 17

Chocolate Guinness Cake

I’ve slowed down a little on the baking front lately, mostly because life and its various priorities have gotten in the way. But in honor of my brother-in-law’s birthday, which happens to be St. Patrick’s Day, I had to squeeze in a quick baking session to whip up a deliciously moist chocolate cake. I decided to try something I’ve wanted to do for awhile: Make a chocolate cake with stout. I chose to use Guinness since we already had some in the house, and I have to say, the cake turned out wonderful. It was incredibly rich and moist, and although you could taste a hint of the Guinness in it, it wasn’t overly strong.

I topped my cake off with a cream cheese frosting, but you could easily swap that for a simple chocolate glaze, confectioners sugar, or nothing at all. The best part? This cake took practically no time to make…or eat, which is a testament to how good it is.

Chocolate Guinness Cake
Cake recipe from A Whisk and a Spoon

Ingredients:

For the cake:
1 and 1/2 cups AP flour
1 cup granulated sugar
7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used 3 regular and 4 dark)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Guinness (or other stout of your choice)
1/2 cup espresso or strong coffee
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon apple cider or white vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil

For the frosting:
1 stick of butter at room temperate
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

For the cake:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch cake pan with cooking spray, then line with parchment and lightly spray the parchment.
2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. In a measuring cup, mix together your stout, coffee, water, vanilla and vinegar. Stir gently into the flour mixture.
4. Add oil and stir gently until you have a smooth batter.
5. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let the cake cool on a rack before peeling off the parchment paper. Top with frosting, glaze, or confectioners sugar. Or, just let this fudgy masterpiece stand on its own.

For the frosting:
1. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth (about 3 minutes at medium speed).
2. Add the vanilla and then the confectioners sugar; mix on low-medium speed until well-combined. Depending on how thick you want your frosting, you may want to add extra confectioners sugar by the tablespoon to reach your desired consistency.

Mar 12

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Blondies

A lot of people I know don’t like white chocolate. “It’s too sweet,” they’ll insist. Well that’s fine, but I think white chocolate is utterly delicious. (And since when did “too sweet” become a problem?)

For those of you who find white chocolate to be a bit too sweet on its own, consider these fabulous blondies. The rich, chewy cake captures that classic blondie flavor, and the addition of the macadamia nuts helps offset the sweetness of the white chocolate by introducing just the right amount of saltiness.

Best of all, these blondies are quick and easy. The most time-consuming part of the process for me was chopping the macadamia nuts, and even that didn’t take very long (plus, I got to snack on some as sort of a pre-blondie treat).

Enjoy these blondies on their own, or go crazy and drizzle a little bittersweet chocolate sauce over them to jazz ‘em up even more.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Blondies
Recipe very slightly adapted from Beantown Baker

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar (I used half dark and half light)
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups AP flour
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts, divided
1 cup white chocolate chips, divided

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking pan.
2. Heat the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over low heat or in your microwave on low power until melted. Let cool to room temperature before continuing.
3. Beat the vanilla and eggs into your sugar mixture.
4. Beat in flour and baking powder on low speed.
5. Stir in half of the macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips.
6. Pour the mixture into your prepared pan, and then sprinkle with remaining nuts and white chocolate chips.
7. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. The tops of the blondies should be slightly browned—but not too brown—before you remove them from the oven.
8. Let the blondies cool completely in their pan before cutting into them.